


Blessed Be the Boys Time Can't Capture (The Mother's Love Remix)

by coricomile



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 18:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4231869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coricomile/pseuds/coricomile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hope thinks her mother gave her the right name so many years ago. It’s what she does. She hopes her family will be safe, she hopes she’s made the right decisions, she hopes the world will be a better place for having her in it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blessed Be the Boys Time Can't Capture (The Mother's Love Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aralias](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralias/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Ready?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3672531) by [Polkat (aralias)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralias/pseuds/Polkat). 
  * In response to a prompt by [aralias](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralias/pseuds/aralias) in the [remixmadness2015](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/remixmadness2015) collection. 



Hope thinks her mother gave her the right name so many years ago. It’s what she does. She hopes her family will be safe, she hopes she’s made the right decisions, she hopes the world will be a better place for having her in it.

When Remus sheepishly leads the Black boy up through the front garden, she hopes that he’s happy. That in his short, tragic life, something has gone right for him.

She has watched Sirius grow alongside her own boy, seen him go from pudgy faced child to skinny teenager to this almost fully grown man. His family name is something that even she knows, Lyall’s commentary enough to make her pity the child. But her Remus, her good-hearted Remus, is nothing if not an excellent judge of character. If he thinks Sirius is worth keeping around, so does she.

Sirius smiles brightly at her when they reach the porch. It’s all boyish, roughish charm without a trace of nervousness. It’s good that he’s confident. That he’s proud. Perhaps, given enough time, he’ll wear off on Remus. Instill some of that comfortableness in his own skin into her boy. 

“Always a pleasure, Mrs. Lupin,” Sirius says. He thrusts a few carefully wrapped flowers into her hands. Behind him, Remus presses his face into his palm. Hope laughs and dips her head to smell them. They’re as red as fire, petals opened wide, clearly as magical as she isn’t.

“They’re beautiful,” she says, because they are. Sirius beams at her, bright as the sun. 

She wants to draw Remus into her arms, to feel him solid and whole against her chest, but she doesn’t want to embarrass him in front of his boyfriend. It’s a strange thought, Remus with another boy. When she’d imagined the future, she’d always seen a nice young woman, pretty and smart and shy. Sirius is none of those things, but perhaps he doesn’t have to be.

“Shall we meet the rest of the family?” Sirius asks. Remus takes his hand, something he clearly isn’t thinking about, and wanders past her, dragging Sirius along like a puppy. 

Hope told the family before the boys even left Hogwarts. She told them that Remus would be bringing his boyfriend home for the holidays, warned them that if a single negative word reached his ears they would be sent away. Remus has so few safe places, places where he can be himself. She will not allow his home to be taken away from that list. 

As she passes them, heading to the kitchen to find a vase, she hears Remus listing off family members one by one, giving Sirius a chance to back out. If she knows anything at all about him, he won’t. She respects him for it. 

Remus already had a difficult life ahead of him. Loving Sirius will only make it harder. If the boy can’t stand by him now, under the safety of her watch, he doesn’t deserve to stand by him later. 

“Do I need to worry about younger men stealing you away?” Lyall asks as Hope fills the vase and arranges the flowers in it. They’ll look fantastic on the dining room table, in with the rest of the Christmas decorations.

“You’ve always had to worry, dear,” she replies. Lyall wraps her up in his arms, holding her against him, and she feels young again, a scared girl taking refuge in the arms of her savior. She hopes this is the way Remus feels when he’s with Sirius. Safe. Free. _Alive_.

“I may not be as spry as I used to be, but I’ll put up an excellent fight.” Lyall kisses her forehead and takes the vase from her. “What do you think of him?”

“I think he’ll be good for Remus,” she says. She watches Lyall set the vase down and steal a sweet from one of the plates on the table. He’s aged, just as she has, but he’s still as handsome as the day she first met him. “And if those tales Remus has told us about his friends are true, Remus might just be good for him, too.”

“A boy’s got the right to be a pest.” Lyall takes another sweet, breaks it in half, and gives her the larger piece. “Hopefully he’ll shake things up. Your aunt’s a right bore, she is.”

“I hope she tells you about her cats again,” Hope says, swatting at his wandering hands. She shoos him out of the kitchen, into the sitting room where the family is gathered. Dinner will be ready soon, and Sirius still hasn’t made his debut.

In the front hall, still in their coats and boots, Remus and Sirius stand close, whispering to one another. Sirius leans in and kisses Remus’ forehead, an echo of love, and Hope’s chest aches. She hopes that Remus will never know heartbreak. The way he looks at Sirius, with soft eyes and a small smile and so much fondness, lets her know that losing this will cripple him. He doesn’t deserve more pain.

Remus looks up, catches her watching, and takes a step back. His cheeks pinken, but he says nothing. Hope smiles and nods her head at the sitting room. Remus sighs, nods back, and takes Sirius’ hand again. They walk into the room together, a unified front against whatever may come.

Hope closes her eyes and makes a wish. It’s worked out well for her so far.


End file.
